20 Mar Writing a Rebuttal

For Writing Project #2, you will be writing a rebuttal (or, what others might refer to as a refutation) of ONE of two articles I have provided for you.  Make note that a rebuttal and a counterargument are not the same thing.  In a rebuttal argument, you offer no claim of your own other than to say that the claim of the other writer is wrong for the reasons you specify.  Direct rebuttals are rarely seen in the media because most news personalities actively engage in debate.  However, they remain powerful tools of persuasion is used skillfully.

INTENDED READERS

Your audience for this paper is composed of international philosophy students who are of varied ethnic identities. They have only a passing interest in the primary subject of the article and are only curious about how different fallacies are represented in either article.

GETTING STARTED

Choose one of the following articles.  Read the article several times to identify fallacies in the author’s presentation.

"Moveon.Feminist, ComeOn.Love" by Katie Keiffer:

Women are angry at Brett Kavanaugh. To them, I ask: do you know why you’re angry?

Suicide is on the rise in America, especially among our country’s girls. According to CDC data, suicide among teenage girls rose 70% in the past decade. This is a 40-year high. Across all genders and ages, suicide has increased 28% since 1999.

I propose the uptick of suicide in America—especially among our young women—is connected to the war against men that is unfolding on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Because, as the great G.K. Chesterton wrote, all wars are motivated by “love” or “hatred,” and never by economics.

Why don’t our girls feel loved by American culture? 

American women are freer and have more opportunities than ever. Economically, it’s old-news to report Pew’s 2013 findings (confirmed by Gallup in 2018) that . Female CEOs of S&P 500 companies actually . Unfortunately, the so-called feminist movement never reports these truths. 

But, more than ever, women are screaming in the streets as if they have no opportunities and no respect from society, especially men. Many of these women may indeed have been hurt by the cruel behavior of a man. But angry words will not heal their wounds, or reform their offenders.

Shaking fists, screaming and stamping—young women are shouting: “We’re angry! Kava-Nope! We believe all survivors!” My concern is that they have given up on learning American history, including whyour founding fathers risked everything—including death—for the sake of establishing a country that upholds Biblical values and true freedom.

I believe these women are unhappy because they do not feel loved. Love is based in truth and selflessness. And our liberal, secular society lies to our youth—telling them that they will only know they are “loved” when they have three things: 1.) Pleasure, 2.) Power, and 3.) Prestige.

Because this trifecta—pleasure, power and prestige—is very hard to obtain and always leaves us wanting more, when we seek these “goals” we end up feeling worthless. 

Intolerance is Kindness

I recently read two great documents on intolerance: Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton and A Plea for Intolerance by Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

“America… is suffering from tolerance,” Sheen writes. We see this in “the readiness of many minds to accept as an authority in any field an individual who becomes a famous authority in one particular field. …[But] there is a limit to the transfer of training, and no one who paints beautiful pictures with his right hand can, in a day and at the suggestion of a reporter, paint an equally good one with his left hand.”

Chesterton adds that Christianity “was intolerable [by the world] because it was intolerant [of the world]. …It did not try to destroy all that creation of gold and marvel, but, it imagined a world without it.”

Sheen defines intolerance as admitting the truths that we see before us and refusing—as is so common today—to ask a celebrity like Madonna or a college professor like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford what she thinks about political policy, and assume she’s correct because she’s an accomplished singer or academic. 

Our young girls have fallen for the lie that an Instagram celebrity knows more about life than their parents, pastors or grandparents.

Our young men have been sold the lie that they’ll never have a fulfilling relationship with a woman because nothing compares to the total control, lack of commitment and hyper-affirmation in porn. But TIME reported in 2016 how many young men are speaking out and educating others on the risks to health and happiness of engaging in sexually explicit material.

Last Friday, I joined two other women in prayer before an abortion clinic. In an hour’s time, about 20 women walked in—along with their boyfriend or girlfriends—for an abortion. None looked happy or confident in their decision.

One young man came up to us to talk. Neither he nor his girlfriend wanted the abortion, but they worried about finances. Tears welled up in his eyes. He was pushing a beautiful baby girl in a stroller but said he felt unworthy to father another child due to his past mistakes. We shared hope and resources with him. He and his girlfriend talked together in private and ultimately decided not have the abortion that day, even after making a three-hour drive (each way) to the clinic. 

We must start telling our young women and men the truth about life and love. Deep down, Americans are not crying out for more laws but more love.

When we are intolerant (i.e. tell the truth and love each other generously), we will also have less anger in America. Move on, feminists. Come on, love.

REQUIRED READING

Read Chapters 2, 3, and 9 in Current Issues and Enduring Questions.

FORMAT AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

• The final draft should be 3-5 pages in length;
• The final draft should be formatted according to MLA guidelines;
• The final draft should contain a Works Cited list (likely, that list will only have one entry… the document itself.)

Remember that Works Cited lists and Cover Pages do not count towards the page limit of the paper and I do not accept papers that are too short.